Today featuring Queen Elizabeth, Ex-MLB Player Julio Lugo, and Beto O’Rourke. These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
LIVERPOOL WOMEN’S HOSPITAL EXPLOSION DECLARED A TERROR INCIDENT
The UK terror threat level has been raised to “severe” after an explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Taxi driver David Perry survived the blast but his passenger was killed when a homemade bomb exploded shortly before 11:00 GMT on Remembrance Sunday. The man, who is believed to have manufactured and brought the device into the taxi, died at the scene. Police said the motivation for the attack was unclear but it had been declared as a terrorist incident. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the threat level had been raised from “substantial” to “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely, because the explosion in Liverpool was the second incident in a month.
[SOURCE: bbc.com / ENGAGEMENT: 30.67%]
QUEEN ELIZABETH SPRAINS BACK, WILL MISS PLANNED RETURN TO PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has canceled a plan to attend a Remembrance Sunday ceremony that was to mark her first public appearance since a hospital stay last month. In a statement Sunday morning, Buckingham Palace disclosed that the 95-year-old monarch has sprained her back and will therefore be unable to attend a ceremony at London’s Cenotaph memorial to honor service members who sacrificed their lives for the United Kingdom. “The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph,” the statement read. “Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service.” The ceremony is part of what’s known as Remembrance Sunday in Britain. This year’s event falls on the 73rd birthday of the queen’s son, Prince Charles, who traditionally lays a wreath in honor of deceased service members on Remembrance Sunday on behalf of his mother. The service is one of the most important events on the monarch’s calendar and was meant to be her first public appearance after taking a few weeks off to rest under doctor’s orders.
[SOURCE: foxnews.com / ENGAGEMENT: 14.27%]
EX-MLB PLAYER JULIO LUGO DIES AT 45
Lugo’s family informed ESPN’s Enrique Rojas on Monday that Lugo died of what was believed to be a heart attack. He was 45. Lugo played 12 MLB seasons for seven different teams. The career .269 hitter won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2007. He last played for the Atlanta Braves in 2011.
[SOURCE: msn.com / ENGAGEMENT: 8.00%]
6 TEENS HOSPITALIZED AFTER SHOOTING AT PARK IN AURORA, COLORADO
Six high schoolers are in the hospital after they were shot at a park near their Aurora, Colorado, school, police said. All injuries are non-life-threatening, Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson said at a news conference. School resource officers put a tourniquet on one victim who is in surgery, she said. The students, who all attend Aurora Central High School, are ages 14 to 18, Aurora police said. There are believed to be “multiple” suspects who are all at large in the wake of the shooting, which took place just north of Aurora Central High School, at Nome Park. The shooting appeared to be a drive-by, Wilson said, adding that people may have also fled on foot.
[SOURCE: abcnews.go.com / ENGAGEMENT: 6.27%]
ALEX JONES LOSES BY DEFAULT IN REMAINING SANDY HOOK DEFAMATION SUITS
A state court in Connecticut granted a sweeping victory to the families of eight people killed in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., who had sued the far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet for defamation. The judge ruled on Monday that because Mr. Jones had refused to turn over documents ordered by the courts, including financial records, he was liable by default. The decision, combined with previous rulings in Texas in late September, means Mr. Jones has lost all the defamation lawsuits filed against him by the families of 10 victims. Lawyers for Mr. Jones said he would appeal.
[SOURCE: nytimes.com / ENGAGEMENT: 4.93%]
ETERNALS SECURES A SECOND-STRAIGHT WEEKEND DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE WIN BY HOLDING OFF CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
Not even Clifford the Big Red Dog could topple Marvel’s Eternals as the latest MCU film secured its second-straight weekend domestic box office win by earning $27.5 million. As reported by Variety, Eternals has officially crossed the $100 million mark in North America, with a domestic total currently sitting at $118 million. In its second weekend, Eternals saw a 61% drop from the $71 million it made in its debut, putting its decline between Shang-Chi’s 52% and Black Widow’s 67%. Internationally, Eternals brought in another $48 million from 49 markets, bringing its overseas total to $162.6 million and its global total to $281.4 million. Clifford the Big Red Dog did manage to take the #2 spot with $16.4 million between Friday and Sunday. Clifford is also available on Paramount+ and had a jumpstart on the weekend as it was released in theaters on Wednesday. In its first five days on the big screen, Clifford earned $22 million.
[SOURCE: ign.com / ENGAGEMENT: 4.27%]
BETO O’ROURKE SAYS HE’S RUNNING FOR TEXAS GOVERNOR
Beto O’Rourke is running for governor, challenging Republican Greg Abbott in a clash of two of Texas’ biggest politicians. The former El Paso congressman, 2018 U.S. Senate nominee and 2020 presidential contender said he was running for governor to improve public schools, health care and jobs in Texas. But O’Rourke also took sharp aim at Abbott’s record, citing new laws he backed this year that ban most abortions in Texas, tighten voting rules and allow permitless carry of handguns. He also criticized Abbott over the February power grid failure that left most of the state without electricity in subfreezing temperatures and his response to the coronavirus pandemic that has recently been focused on fighting vaccine and mask mandates. In a video announcing his campaign Monday morning, O’Rourke focuses heavily on the grid failure, saying Texans were “abandoned by those who were elected to serve and look out for them.” O’Rourke said in the interview that Abbott “has stopped listening to and trusting the people of Texas.”
[SOURCE: texastribune.org / ENGAGEMENT: 3.60%]
ASTROWORLD’S 10TH VICTIM: 9-YEAR-OLD BOY IN COMA FROM INJURIES DIES
Ezra Blount, the 9-year-old boy who was placed in a medically induced coma after being injured at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, died Sunday, Houston’s Mayor Sylvester Turner confirmed in a tweet. He is the 10th person to die from injuries related to the Nov. 5 concert. Ezra was the youngest person to die in connection to the music festival, where a large crowd surge pushed toward the stage as Scott performed, packing people so tightly together they couldn’t breathe. Ezra’s heart, lungs and brain were injured in the melee. He was taken to a Houston hospital and placed in an induced coma, his grandfather, Bernon Blount, said. Ezra and his father, Treston Blount, traveled from out of town to attend the concert and spend quality time together, Bernon Blount said last week.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com / ENGAGEMENT: 2.67%]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of the past day.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Weekly Wrap-Up with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
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